NBC's 'The Voice' Carries Sky High Pricetag

So I hear that NBC’s heavily hyped upcoming warble show The Voicefrom John de Mol, Mark Burnett, and Warner Horizon Television is costing a whopping $1.4 million per episode. Given that this is a U.S. adaptation of The Voice of Holland, and that the set for the April 26th premiere looks like a cheap Las Vegas lounge with a coupla chairs, a microphone, and hardly any production values, and that judges on these talent shows aren’t paid that extravagantly, then where the hell is the money going? I’m told that, when the show was first pitched, NBCU’s previous boss Jeff Zucker et al was duped into believing that another network was making “a big offer” when in actuality there was no rival bid. Oops. And to think Zucker led us all to believe that scripted programming was too expensive…